Michigan

Detroit Tigers' Andy Dirks, left, and Omar Infante (4) celebrate after scoring on a double by Austin Jackson during the fourth inning against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City on Friday.
(AP Photo)

"I don't really know how many other times this has happened in baseball -- two guys got five hits in the same game," manager Jim Leyland said.

It's unclear how many times its happened in the history of Major League Baseball, but in the past 96 years, it had only been done once in Tigers history.

Now twice.

The only other game since 1916 in which Tigers teammates have recorded five hits in the same game was on July 30, 1917 when Ty Cobb, Bobby Veach and Ossie Vitt each had five hits in a 16-4 Tigers victory at Washington.

"It was just one of those games," Leyland said. "A freak game."

Dirks, who is hitting .410 against Kansas City this season, scored four times and set a career high with five hits in front of his parents and a hometown crowd.

"I feel better at the plate now than when I did earlier in the season, that's for sure," said Dirks, a Wichita State alum. "It's just one of those things. You just have to battle your at-bats and find your rhythm and your timing. Some days it clicks, some days it doesn't."

It certainly clicked Friday night. And it's been clicking for Dirks the past couple weeks. In his last 12 games, Dirks has hit .415 (17-for-41) with 13 runs scored, four doubles, a triple, a homer and six RBIs.

"For him to get hot this late at the right time when we're trying to clinch a playoff berth, that's the guy we need to get right. In the postseason, he's going to be very important."

Infante will be equally as important for the Tigers down the stretch and in the postseason. And, just like Dirks, he's heating up at the right time.

Since returning from the 15-day disabled list with a sprained right ankle, Infante has hit .389 (35-for-90) with 32 runs scored, three homers and 17 RBIs in 23 games. He leads all American League second basemen this season with a .328 batting average.

That was made abundantly clear when Infante went 5-for-5 with six RBIs on Friday night, falling a whisker shy of hitting his first career grand slam. Instead, he settled for a bases-clearing double in the fifth that gave the Tigers a 12-run cushion.

In turn, he became the first Tigers second baseman to be perfect from the plate with five-plus hits and six-plus RBIs since Charlie Gehringer in 1937, according to Elias Sports Bureau.

He also became the first Tigers second baseman with six RBIs since Damion Easley on May 20, 1998 and the first Tigers second basemen with five-plus hits since Easley's six-hit game on Aug. 8, 2001.

By the time all was said and done, Kansas City starter James Shields was tagged for 10 runs and 14 hits in 3 2/3 innings -- marking his shortest start of the season. The runs and hits matched career-worst totals for the Royals' right-handed ace.

"It was just one of those games where (Shields) just didn't have it and we were able to take advantage of that," Leyland said.